Help, I'm Trapped In My Best Friend's Body
by SevenDevils12
Summary: Rick wakes up in Shane's body, discovering that he is in a coma and Shane's soul is trapped in him. As he struggles to reconnect with his family without arousing suspicion, the darker side of Shane fights back for his body, with devastating consequences. Rated M for graphic sex and language.
1. Bedtime

Rick knew something was wrong immediately when he woke up that morning. Nothing felt right… not the bed, not his wife's back as she slept, not the clock that he stared at to tell the time was eight o' clock, not the muscular arm that he was leaning on. He didn't feel right. He tried to sit up, but found that his balance and co-ordination was off this morning too as he fell back down, smashing his arm down onto the bedside table. The clock slipped and crashed down to the ground with an almighty thump.  
"What is it, babe?" asked a soft, seductive voice that he didn't recognise. He turned over with difficulty to reply to his wife… but it wasn't his wife. It was a young blonde girl with a toned, skinny body and powerful blue eyes. She looked at him affectionately, and as she moved up to a sitting position her beautiful breasts were exposed, bouncing against her chest as they left the cover of the duvet. Her attractive face stared at him inquisitively as he gave her an alarmed facial expression in response. She smiled. "I forgot, you drank a lot. Still, I imagined that I would be too good to… _forget_." As she breathed the last word sensually, she leaned towards him and planted a passionate kiss on his lips. He was too stunned to respond. As she pulled away, it was clear some of the early-morning hormones had disappeared.

"Okay, clearly something's wrong," she said with frustration, covering her breasts with the duvet as she saw him staring. "What is the matter with you? Seriously, nobody drinks that much to forget a night like last night."  
"Where am I?" replied Rick, feeling his heartbeat increasing rapidly. To his shame, he could feel his erection sloping the duvet. He could tell she had seen.  
"Where do you think you are, Shane? You're at my house. I live five minutes away by drive from the bar, so it was easy to…"  
"What did you just call me?"

As crazy as it sounded, Rick knew what was going on now, gladly feeling his heartbeat slowing down. He was having a dream where he was Shane. From time to time, he had been jealous of Shane, not being tied down by the responsibilities of family life. He fantasised about freedom, where he could make love to who he wanted, drink whenever he wanted, and not have to care about what anyone else thought. He wasn't proud of it, and at the end of the day he loved his family. He knew that Shane's womanising was only a temporary solution for his loneliness, and that one day he would try to settle down and find a wife. However, Rick never thought he would actually dream about _being _Shane. Clearly he had been daydreaming for too long.

"Are you listening?"  
"What?" He had been daydreaming. How ironic.  
"I said that I called you Shane. Is that a problem? Do you use a different name when you're out cheating on your wife or girlfriend?"  
"What?"  
She groaned loudly. "What is _with _you this morning? I'd swear you're a different person than you were last night."  
Before Rick could reply, she got out of bed and stormed out of the room, but she then walked back in seconds later, putting on a robe.  
"My name's Candice," she grunted. "In case you forgot that too." Now she was gone.

He was expecting to wake up any second now, but there was nothing. He got out of bed slowly, realising all too late that he was naked. Before he could look away, he caught a glimpse of Shane's penis. Disgusted he was, but also mildly impressed. His best friend was stacked. He found some boxers on the floor and put them on, looking down to check that all was covered. He couldn't help but glance at Shane's body. Rick kept himself in shape, but Shane was huge compared to him. He had already seen the powerful arms, but the body was even more intimidating. His chest was ripped and defined with muscle, and his thighs were like tree trunks, strong and… sexy. Rick had always known why Shane was popular with the ladies, but now that he could see the evidence, he felt a stab of jealousy. This man had all the tools. Rick was uncomfortable in his friend's body, but he kind of liked it too. _Well, _he thought to himself, _might as well as enjoy this dream while I can._

He left the bedroom to find Candice leaning against the kitchen counter, slurping coffee from a mug. Behind her was the window, and out of the window he could see into the street, where a few cars passed by at clearly illegal lightning speeds. There was a sign that said 'Alamode – Turn Right'. He started to feel his heartbeat rising again. This didn't feel like a dream. Everything was too real.

"What's up with you?" asked Candice, finishing her coffee and dumping the mug in the sink. "You're being really distant."  
"I'm only messing, girl," replied Rick, startled by two things. One: he would never say something that cocky and as confidently to a girl in real life, and two: he was speaking in Shane's voice, not his own. They had the same accent admittedly, but Shane's voice was deeper and more confident. He was really worried now, but somehow it didn't show on his face.  
"You call that messing? You make me feel like an idiot."  
Without realising, he found himself walking towards her slowly, grinning in a presumably sexy way. "I don't think you're an idiot."  
She was under his spell, but she was resisting. "Don't treat me like one the…"  
"What you are is kind, funny, _smart_… and goddamn beautiful."

It was like he wasn't in control of his, Shane's, body. Without prior thought, his large hands wrapped around her petite arms and pulled her to him. Within a second he had locked lips with her, and his hands had slipped down to her waist, and then to her tender ass. He squeezed it tight, eliciting gasps of excitement from her as he released his mouth from hers and started kissing down her neck.

"You can't win me over like that," she moaned in ecstasy, trying not to fall prey to his advances. But it was too late; he lifted her up by holding her thighs and pressed her against the wall, moving one of his hands to untie her robe.  
Rick was no longer in control of his actions. He tried to move, but felt that something else was controlling him… Shane. He could only feel what was happening, and watch. He tried to think of Lori as a distraction, but the stunning Candice took over his thoughts as Shane pulled down his boxers and entered Candice, still holding her up against the wall.

Her scream of pleasure was the last thing Rick heard before he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was shocked to see not Candice, or her ceiling, or any of her house. Instead he was looking forward, in a room that was clearly part of a hospital. He just knew that he was in a bed, even though he couldn't see the end of it. Something must have happened since Shane had initiated sex with Candice. Maybe he'd had an accident and had been rushed into hospital. From the corner of his vision, he saw his hand – his hand, not Shane's - and another hand on top of it. It was definitely a woman's hand, so tender, thin and feminine. The wedding ring was the giveaway. He knew that it was Lori sat next to him in bed with him, because he had bought that wedding ring for her years ago and she had loved it. He tried to turn his head to face her, but he couldn't move. At all. He tried to wriggle his toes or move his fingers, but there was nothing. It was just like earlier when Shane became intimate with Candice. Except Rick had been able to feel it then. He could feel Shane's rough hands on her smooth skin… could feel Shane's erect penis inside her vagina. Yet he couldn't feel his own wife's hand on his. The dream was over now, no matter how horrifying it was, so surely it should be back to normal. Again, something was wrong, just like when he had woken up next to Candice, if that was even her name.

A woman in scrubs walked in, awkwardly standing in the doorway staring at Lori.  
"I'm afraid visiting hours are over now, Mrs Grimes," she said formally. Lori must have given some form of a non-verbal response, because the nurse smiled weakly and then left. Lori took a heavy breath, laced with a sob. She said something; somehow just hearing her voice in this dire situation would be enough to make Rick start to cry uncontrollably if able to.

"Alright, good talk," she sighed in what was an attempt at a jokey manner. She patted his hand; to his disdain he didn't feel that either. All physical feeling was gone – emotional remained unfortunately. "I'm coming in tomorrow at nine, and then I can tell you all about Carl's soccer practice – Shane will be picking him up at about four – and how it went and… stuff. Feel free to comment on that."  
She got up, letting go of his hand, making him scream internally. She went for the door, but just before she touched the door handle, she turned back and looked into his eyes. Tears streamed down her face.

"I love you, Rick Grimes," she sobbed, "and I'm going to keep coming here until you get better. You're gonna wake up and come back to me and Carl and we're gonna be a happy family together. We'll get through this, I promise."  
She walked back over and kissed him on the cheek.  
"See you tomorrow, babe."  
_Babe. _That's what Candice had called him. Well, what she'd called him. What was worst was that when Lori said it, she said it in Candice's voice. As his wife walked away, everything blurred and went black, and all of a sudden Candice was under him, moaning as Rick – now Shane – ploughed into her with his penis.

"Fuck me!" she screamed, clawing at his pecs. "Fuck me, babe!"  
The word was the trigger: suddenly Rick had control of Shane again. Immediately he stopped thrusting and exited Candice, crawling backwards off what he now realised was her bed (obviously Shane had carried her there from the kitchen) and hitting his head on the wooden floor. He could see his boxers on the floor in the kitchen down the hallway. He made a beeline for them, forgetting the balance problem and tripping, smacking his head on the doorframe and drawing blood. He made it to his boxers and put them on, returning to the bedroom to find the rest of his clothes. They were in a pile on a chair in front of her computer. He put on his officer's uniform while Candice protested.

"I was about to cum, you asshole!"  
"Why did you stop?"  
"We've been fucking all day and now all of a sudden you have to go?"  
"Prick!"

Rick looked at the clock again – still on the floor from earlier – and nearly had a heart attack. It was two thirty. They had been having sex for nearly six hours. Rick had barely been back in his own body and now all of a sudden six hours had passed? Something very bad was happening.

"I… err… gotta go," he mumbled in Shane's voice. "I gotta pick up my son from soccer practice." He regretted it as soon as he said it.  
"You couldn't have told me that you had a son earlier?" she yelled, wrapping the bed sheets around her to cover her naked body. Rick grimaced as he saw that there was a line of semen dripping down her left cheek and her mouth – Shane was scarily aggressive in bed. It seemed that he was so aggressive when consumed by lust that he literally switched bodies with Rick for about six hours.

So now Rick was accepting it. He had switched bodies with Shane.  
But why was Rick's body in the hospital? Why was he in… a coma?

Once he was fully clothed, Rick quickly surveyed the room for the front door.  
"Nice meeting you, I guess. I gotta run."  
He left before she could protest, slamming the front door and thundering down the steps to where Shane's squad car was parked.

"You fucking prick!"

Rick got in and drove away as fast as he could, overwhelmed by the realisation that he was in a coma, and he had swapped bodies with his best friend.  
And now he was on his way to pick his son from soccer practice, while pretending to not be his son's father, as his son's father is in a coma.

He really wished he would wake up soon.


	2. Late Appointment

Alamode wasn't too far away from where Rick lived – he had remembered going drinking in the local bar there with Shane and some of the other officers. That had been years ago, way before Carl came along. He hadn't been out drinking with all the guys at the station for a very long time, and he missed it. Lori didn't like him going out because there were "all manner of pretty bunny boilers there just waiting to bag a handsome married man like you". He used to dispute his wife's paranoia, but after waking up next to one of those bunny boilers this morning and then waking up again inside one of them, he was inclined to agree.

Shane's stomach rumbled and he realised that he was starving. He hadn't eaten since last night based on his account of things, although Shane might have eaten at Candice's when they switched. He stopped at a store after about ten minutes and bought a ham sandwich. The store worker smiled gravely at him.  
"Morning, officer," he said politely. "Is that all?"  
As Rick handed over the sandwich, he saw a newspaper and picked one up. "This too." He placed it on the counter.  
"Sure thing." After scanning the items and stating the price, he said something else: "Any news on your partner?"

It seemed that Shane was a regular in this shop. How many times had he been to that bar and come here the morning after? (In fairness, it was the afternoon now)  
"Nothing yet. He's still… you know." He didn't know, but he was quietly hoping that the clerk would say something to give him information.  
"Well, it's only been three days, I guess. There's still every chance of him waking up."  
He was struck with an idea. "Say, have you heard anything about Rick on the streets? What people are saying, I mean."  
The clerk was confused. "Nothing other than the truth, this is that he was shot by a degenerate convict who escaped prison. At least, that's what the papers say. Weren't you there when it happened?"  
He nodded. "Yeah, yeah. I was just… you know, checking that people are telling the truth and not twisting it. Sorry to… question you." He placed the money on the table.  
"That's mighty fine, officer. I understand that you don't want no lowlifes besmirching Officer Grimes' name. The police force is very popular around here, ever since you stomped out that gang culture a few years back." He pushed the money back. "Tell you what; you can have this on the house. I don't think it fair to charge an officer in such a distressing time."

He ate his sandwich in the car, soaking in the details of his hospitalisation. So three days ago – according to the paper he had taken – Officers Grimes and Walsh had engaged in a shootout with escaped convicts and two bullets were planted in Officer Grimes. He was currently comatose in Cynthiana General Hospital. There was a picture of him in his hospital bed – him, not Shane – and another one with him, Lori and Carl at seven years old, and another one of him and Shane arm in arm, wearing their uniforms. A doctor's quote was that "Mr Grimes' injuries are severe". Apparently he was very unlikely to ever wake up.

Rick wasn't hungry anymore. He dumped the half-eaten sandwich back in its wrapper and threw it in the bin next to his window. He wanted to scream again, but didn't want the store clerk to see. He drove off back to Cynthiana, which was about five more minutes away. It struck him that even though Shane had drunk lots last night, he must have drove to Candice's house. Meaning that he had been drunk driving, which was against the law he was paid to enforce. Shane had always been a careless man, but maybe Rick's hospitalisation had altered his opinion of safety to an extent that he was willing to drive drunk. That or he was just a careless dick anyway. The latter was likely the case.

It angered him that he was in hospital. It didn't just upset; hell, it devastated him, that he was trapped in that tiny room where he couldn't even feel his wife's tender touch. Except he wasn't there, was he? He was in a squad car, reading a paper about his best friend's assault that left him in a coma. So did that mean that Shane was in Rick? Shane was confined to that hospital bed while Rick walked free in Shane's body. But there was something wrong about Shane's body. It was a cruel body. It abused Candice, and now it was abusing Rick. He was trapped in Shane, which he didn't know if he should be happy about. Clearly he switched because his life was in danger, which was likely to mean that Rick wouldn't ever wake up in hospital, just like the doctor in the paper suggested. Maybe he ought to be grateful. This was his second chance at life, just in someone else's body. But that meant that Shane was the one as good as dead, with Lori crying over him every day. How could any non-sociopathic person be pleased about that?

He tried to put Shane out of his mind as he drove to pick up Carl from soccer practice. He had gotten distracted in the car and realised that it was three o'clock; school was over for the day, and soccer practice would be starting and the school field in five minutes.

He arrived at Carl's school at three fifty, after getting distracted in the car and missing a turning. He parked up near the gates as he always would do as Rick, and waited. He reminisced about the last time he had seen Carl: it had been the night before he had been shot, because he had to go into work early the next morning so he wouldn't see him. He kissed him on the forehead and told him he loved him. However could he have known that such a goodbye would be necessary? It had felt like months since he had last seen Carl, even though it had only been a few days, but more like one day for Rick. Would he look different? How was he coping?

The answers to both of his questions arrived at five past four. Carl walked through the school gates with a backpack on him and his soccer gear in a small bag in his hand. He looked different, but not because he had longer hair or he had gotten taller or something. He looked _empty._ He stumbled forward vacantly, without any emotion. He saw Rick, looked at him as if he was Shane, and got in the passenger seat. He barely said a word, just mumbled a greeting.

"Afternoon son," said Rick, staring at his son with concern. "How was soccer practice?"  
Carl shrugged.  
"Okay then. Let's get you home, unless you have any objections."  
Carl coughed in shock, and suddenly looked upset.  
"Sorry, did I say something wrong?" But of course he had: he knew what he'd said wrong.  
"My dad used to say that when he picked me up."

How could he have forgotten that he said that to Carl? He was so stupid sometimes. He knew that he couldn't act like himself; he had to act like _Shane_. Who would believe him if he said that he was actually Rick and Shane was in a coma? Everyone would think he was mad. He would just have to keep his mouth shut until he found a way out of this.

If there was a way…

"Look out!"

Rick snapped back to his senses and swerved the vehicle as he nearly crashed into a parked car. He had gotten distracted while exiting the parking lot.  
"Sorry, I didn't see that."  
"It was right in front of you!"  
"Yeah, yeah, take it easy. You're not the only one having a hard time."  
He shouldn't have said that. Carl fell silent.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to put it like that."  
"No, it's fine. I'm sorry."

The awkward silence remained for the rest of the way home.

When they got back to Rick's house, he parked up and undid his seatbelt.  
"Come on," he said to Carl.  
"Are you coming in?"  
Candice came to mind when Carl said that, but he pushed her out of his mind.  
"Yeah, just thought I'd say hi to your mom, see how she's doing."  
"You didn't yesterday."  
"Well, I am today."  
Carl shrugged, clearly annoyed by Shane's tone. "Okay then."

They both got out and went to the front door. He knocked and seconds later, Lori appeared at the door, looking flustered.  
"Oh, thank goodness!" she exclaimed, hugging her son to his irritation. "I got worried when you didn't get here earlier!"  
"Are we late?" asked Rick.  
"Not really, only by about five minutes, but that was probably because of traffic, and I'm sure I'm just being paranoid… but it was just that…"

She was so beautiful, with her perfect skin and her long, shiny black hair. Even with her family tragedy she still looked as stunning as ever. Candice was something, but there was nothing like the beauty of a loving mother and wife.  
"Shane?"  
"Yeah, sorry?" He was distracted… _again_.  
"Thanks again for bringing him home. I would have been able to, but I wanted to…"  
"To stay with Rick, it's okay, I get it."  
She smiled, but it was an expression filled with guilt, embarrassment and pain. "How was work today?"  
"Not much happened, just… you know." He had completely forgotten about work. _Shit_.  
"At least you managed to get off early, I guess."  
"How was your day?"  
She sighed. Carl was already gone, probably up in his bedroom by now.  
"I was just sat there next to Rick, for hours. Just like yesterday and the day before, and… I know it hasn't been long, but it's the same thing every time. Sometimes I talk, sometimes I just sit there, and I brought him flowers yesterday. Not that he could possibly notice. I just feel like… it's pointless. I don't feel any better for sitting there and hoping for a miracle cure, and he doesn't feel anything at all. Is that bad?"

The words stung him like a vicious wasp. Already she was giving up, resigning to the supposed inevitability that her husband would never wake up. She was moving on, and it had only been three days!  
"You can't give up on him yet," he said with poorly concealed rage. "It's barely been half a week."  
She was taken aback. "Sorry, you're right, what am I thinking? Giving up so early, I just… I don't know what to do. I'm scared."  
She was sobbing now, and without any thought Rick embraced her, stroking her arm. She buried her head in his thick chest.  
"You're doing your best, and that's all you can do. Look after you and Carl, and let God decide on Rick. That's all there is now."

As odd as it sounded, he forgot that he was Shane for a moment. This was his wife, he wanted to touch her. Feel her. And so he wrapped his fingers around her waist affectionately. As soon as he did it he regretted it. But then something worse than he expected happened. Lori responded. She ran her fingers down his hip slowly, feeling the tense muscles subconsciously. As she did so, his other hand slipped down her back, descending towards her ass. Shane was coming back. He was losing control.

He broke out of the hug gently but firmly at the same time.  
"Right, be seeing you." He walked away, feeling Shane receding back into Rick's body.  
"Right, um, yeah. Bye. Thanks for… picking up Carl."

He got back in his car and drove off down the street, mildly ashamed that he had another erection.


	3. Apologies

Rick had been scared to go back to sleep that night, concerned that Shane would reappear and act out some _Bonnie and Clyde _bullshit. However, he found himself exhausted from the switches and the long day labouring in a different body (half of the day was spent in labouring in Candice after all), so he went back to Shane's, and went to sleep. It turned out that he was right to be scared; Shane returned.

Rick felt himself drift off to sleep, when a blood-curdling scream assaulted his brain, and all of a sudden Shane was in front of him. They were stood in an empty, white environment, wearing their uniforms. The distance between them was impossible tell, because they seemed both far away and close to each other at the same time. They looked completely normal, like nothing irregular was occurring. Rick didn't feel like he was in either body; it was like he was merely a viewer, who was watching from the side-lines. He could see both of their bodies.

Nothing was said. There was no sound, no smell, no feeling. All of a sudden, Shane moved; he took a step forward slowly and started walking towards Rick, who started to walk towards Shane. They approached each other, but never seemed to get any closer. It was like they were merely walking on treadmills, walking without really going anywhere. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, they both stopped walking, and all of a sudden they were right opposite each other, close enough to touch. Shane walked forward, except this time Rick did not. Shane didn't get any closer. He just kept walking and walking and walking, but to no avail. He was in touching distance, but he could not touch. Gradually, his blank facial expression changed. He looked angry, until it turned into fury, and then rage. He opened his mouth and screamed a blood-curdling scream, and then all of a sudden everything went black.

Rick woke up in a cold sweat, panting furiously. He frantically ran his hands along his body and recognised the distinctive feeling from hands that weren't his: Shane. They hadn't switched back after all. That definitely wasn't a dream. That was Shane trying to switch back. Rick wanted to switch back, but right now, he was in a coma. Why would he want to switch back to his body just to lie there waiting to die?

He checked his watch which he'd forgotten to take off, which said that it was 2:27. _Great. _He didn't want to go back to sleep in case something similar happened. So he went on the computer.

Thankfully, Shane didn't have a password for his computer, so Rick loaded up the internet with ease. The bandwidth was much faster what with the majority of America in bed, apart from the procrastinators and the insomniacs. He was quickly able to type in '_I'm trapped in my best friend's body.'_ Unfortunately, the answers he was seeking were not to be found there. Instead some Pokémon Fanfiction appeared.

'_I'm trapped in someone's body._' This time a book series written by Todd Strasser showed up.

_'Switching bodies._' Again, nothing useful came up.

After about two hours of scrolling through page after page of pointless articles where people pretended to switch bodies with their parents, Rick came across a phrase: psychic evacuation. Running out of options, he typed it in. There was no information suggesting that anyone else had experienced the same thing, but a book appeared. It was called _Flip _and it was by Martyn Bedford. He watched the book trailer and it was about a boy in Britain who wakes up in a different boy's body half way across the country. He finds out that what he is suffering from is psychic evacuation, which occurs when someone's soul flees their body after a life-threatening situation. That fit with Rick's situation; he had been shot and his soul had fled his body, yet for some reason it had taken three days for it to enter Shane; which meant that Shane was definitely trapped in Rick's body, if that logic was to be followed.

So was there any way for them to return to their own bodies?

He ordered the book on Amazon because he couldn't find the plot online, realising that he was taking advice from a fictional book aimed at young adults. He was that desperate now. Although in fairness, the book's premise was based on a supposedly real thing that can happen, but he couldn't find any more details that would help his search, so he turned off the computer and ate some breakfast. After all, trying to go back to sleep at five o'clock in the morning was never going to be successful.

Another surprise was that he tasted things differently. Naturally his mouth moved in an alternate way, but the Cheerios he had tasted different to him. He didn't mind Cheerios, but they tasted much better as Shane. He loved them, but having different taste buds was adding insult to injury; yet another moment for him to reflect on how he was in a world he didn't belong. Was it really so bad though? He had been given a second chance that he shouldn't abuse. This could be the opportunity he needed to reconcile with his family.

He had had a fight with Lori a few days before the shooting. She was pissed at him for apparently not appreciating her enough to fold his t-shirts inside out when he chucked them in the washing basket. But both of them knew what it was really about; they just didn't want to acknowledge it. Now that everything was so different to him, he could put things into perspective.

He had found some hairs in his bed. They weren't his. They weren't Lori's. They weren't Carl's. They were thick, long, dark brown hairs, just like the ones that he was running his hand through now.

It had never occurred to him before that Shane might betray him like that. Best friends just don't do that to each other. At least, _real _best friends didn't do that. What was even worse was when he had embraced Lori last night. She had nearly been intimate because she had been with Shane before. She just assumed that he was guilt-stricken and didn't want to go further than they already had.

So if Rick tried to form a relationship with Lori as Shane… it would just be a continuation of the affair she had partaken in God knows how long ago. This also explained why Shane could take over whenever there was sexual tension; he was, to put it simply, a fanny rat. He was hoping that Lori was just another girl to him, and not a serious fling.

Rick realised how hateful he had been in relation to Shane recently. Was he really that bad? They were best friends, and all of a sudden he had changed his opinion so drastically. What if Lori and Shane hadn't even done anything? What if they were just thinking of it? What if he had just been in their bedroom without having had sex with her? They might have just hugged or kissed a little bit. Rick recognised how beautiful and warm Lori was, and Shane could be a comforting, reliable person to have around (that and his other attributes). Rick had been so selfish. He had only thought about himself upon waking up in Shane's body. He had seen how upset Carl was, but had barely registered it. How must it be for Lori too? Suddenly her husband was as good as dead and her son no longer had a father figure. The responsibilities and stress must have doubled, and the grief that she would have to contain to reassure Carl. It must be destroying her, so no wonder she was considering Shane.

All of a sudden Rick had an urge to see… Rick. He wanted to go to the hospital to see himself. Would Shane recognise him? He had been able to see when he switched back, so surely Shane would be able to do the same. The only problem was that Lori might be there, and he wasn't ready to face her upon considering her feelings on the tragedy. While she didn't know the truth and never could, it was now eating away at him that he hadn't thought about what it must be like for her. Still, he had to see Shane. Maybe some crazy switch thing would happen again, and it could help them both.

He wouldn't know until he tried.

** WD ** WD **

Thankfully, it was a Saturday so Rick was off work. He waited until eight o'clock before he set off for the hospital, being the first visitor in when the doors opened at nine o'clock. The nurse who directed him to Rick Grimes seemed to recognise him, and she even led him down the corridor out of kindness. As she opened the door to the room, he could feel something inside him, clawing at his insides. It was Shane, scrabbling for freedom.

As they locked eyes from across the room, Rick could tell that Shane could see him. Something about seeing his body so still was horrifying. A tear slid down his cheek, which the nurse passed off as just normal grief. She left the room. He approached slowly, feeling the pain intensify with every step.

"It's me," said Rick, nearly sobbing. "It's me, Shane. It's Rick. I'm here."  
As he reached the end of the bed, an invisible hand clutched his lungs, cutting off his air. He gasped for breath, clawing at his chest. As his hand flailed it slipped off the bed rail and touched the sheet that covered his body. Everything went black for just a moment, and suddenly he could breathe again.

Except he was in his own body. Shane looked across from him in his own body, shocked and clutching his chest. He stared at Rick with intensity.

"What…" he mumbled, trying to regain control of his lips. "Rick?"

It wasn't enough. They switched back a moment later, Rick clutching Shane's chest. It didn't work.

"I'm sorry," sobbed Rick. "I'm so, so sorry."

Shane's lack of response crushed him. There was no longer a hand clutching his lungs, but he could still feel the mark left. Shane was so desperate to escape that he had nearly killed Rick.

"I'm sorry this has happened. I couldn't help it. I don't know what to do. Don't hate me for this."

Shane's stare was vacant, but it felt like he was angry. He was angry that he had lost his freedom over someone else, especially his best friend. Something was broken between them; if Shane ever woke up, their friendship would be gone.

"Shane?"

Rick swivelled round to see Lori standing there, with the door open. He hadn't heard her come in.

"Lori."  
"What… what are you doing here?"

He hadn't noticed before just how much the grief had taken its toll on her. It had only been a few days, but she had enormous bags under her eyes and her hair was in a state. She looked weak. How must he look himself, sobbing to someone who couldn't reply?

"I just wanted to see him. Sorry if I…"  
"No, no, it's fine. I just didn't know you were coming, that's all."

For a moment they stood in awkward silence, before she closed the door. It seemed to shock him into speaking.

"I can go if you want, if you'd like some alone time."  
She considered this for a moment, looking more tired with every second. "I'd like you to stay with me, if that's okay."  
"Yeah, I'd be happy too." He shouldn't have said that; _happy_ was not a suitable word for the particular location. "No, I didn't mean that, but I'd… like to… you know."

To his amazement she smiled. "I know what you mean. Rick bumbles like that awkwardly." Her smile faded. The memory hurt her clearly. The fact that Shane resembled her unresponsive comatose husband haunted her. She walked past Shane, patting his muscular arm as she took a seat next to Rick.

"Maybe…" Rick mumbled. "Maybe we could move the chair so that he can… see you better."  
She looked up at him, taking a hold of Rick's hand.  
"Yeah, that's a good idea."

She shuffled her chair along, still holding his hand, so that she was in his line of sight.

** WD ** WD **

They left together after saying goodbye to "Rick". As they walked out of the building, down the corridors, down the stairs, out the door, they talked.

"I'm sorry about yesterday," said Rick, running a hand through his hair as he remembered Shane doing a lot. "I shouldn't have just walked off like that. It was rude."  
Lori was quite vacant, but her eyes lit up when he spoke. "It's fine," she replied, taking a deep breath. "You were stressed out and the situation got a little… you know."  
"Yeah."

At least she was acknowledging that something nearly happened. Maybe she felt guilt about it. His question was answered when she spoke again.  
"I feel bad about yesterday."  
"Why?"  
"I made it inappropriate. I mean, he's your best friend, and it's only been a few days…"  
"Uh-huh."  
"And I wish that night had never happened. No offense meant to you, but I can't stop thinking about it now."

So Lori and Shane did have sex. It didn't hurt Rick as much as he thought it would: the confirmation. Instead he felt empty. She cheated on him. So what? It happened.

"I understand," said Rick, thinking that he might for once be telling the truth. "It was just a thing that happened, and it shouldn't have. But you shouldn't feel bad about it now. It happened… before Rick ended up here."  
He was taking a huge risk here. He didn't know if Lori and Shane had had sex before or after Rick's hospitalisation. It seemed that his guess was right, because she nodded silently.

"I love my husband, but I can't bear to go and see him like that. I almost bailed and went home. I was… so happy to see you there with him. It gave me comfort that… there's someone else grieving too."  
"Grieving? He's not dead."  
The sigh that followed was laced with despair. "No, he's not dead. But I have to be prepared for every possibility. I can't keep telling my son that his daddy's gonna be okay when I don't know it for a fact. He could die tonight, he could die tomorrow, or he could wake up tonight, or he could wake up tomorrow. I don't know, and you don't know, and he doesn't know. The nurses don't know, the doctors don't know, the… you get the idea. Nobody in the world knows. So I have to be ready for the day when he slips away in his sleep, or I decide to turn off his life support."

Rick felt a rising panic. He stopped walking. "You're gonna stop his life support?"  
Lori seemed to regret saying that. "No, no, I'm not. Not yet."  
"How long away is 'yet'?"  
"Jesus, Shane, I don't know. How could I possibly know?"  
"Sorry, that wasn't fair."  
"No. You're right. It wasn't fair."

There was a pause, a lapse in the tense conversation. Then Lori did her signature smile; she tried to put on a happy face, but tears slipped down her face and the smile was drowned under them. Suddenly all expression was gone from her face, and her eyes rolled up inside her head.

"Lori, are you okay?"

Her legs buckled and Rick was just able to catch her in his arms as she collapsed. She flopped like a rag doll in his hold, unconscious.

"Help, someone's fainted! Help!"

Footsteps came pattering down the hallway behind him. Rick fell to a kneeling position as he caressed Lori's empty face. He found a pulse in her neck, which quickly intensified as her eyes flittered open. Her lips quivered as she tried to formulate a word.

"Lori, Lori, it's alright, someone's coming to help."  
"Rick?"

The word filled him with hope. Did she recognise him? The rapid footsteps got closer.

"Rick?" she repeated, short of breath and limp in his arms. "Rick, is that you?"

"Yes, it's me," he sobbed for the umpteenth time that day. "I'm here, babe. I'm here."

She smiled, her eyes drifting. They closed again.

"What's happened?" gasped a stern-looking nurse in her mid-thirties.  
"She just collapsed on me!"  
The nurse checked for a pulse. "We need to sit her down somewhere."

** WD ** WD **

Hours later, Lori was sat in the passenger seat of her car, as Rick drove her home with the radio on quietly. The nurse said that it was down to a mixture of stress and exhaustion, and that she needed rest. Rick opted to drive her home, and he would pick up Shane's car later. She was quite out of it, as she stroked her seatbelt tentatively. For a while, they didn't speak. About five minutes before they reached her house, she said something in a tired voice.

"I had a really weird dream earlier."  
"Yeah."  
"When you were holding me, I saw… Rick. He told me was there for me and he called me babe."  
The word haunted Rick, after it was used as a switch trigger yesterday. He knew that Lori hadn't recognised him for who he really was back in the hospital. It was too good to be true.

"I don't think it was a coincidence."  
"What?"  
"I said I don't think it was a coincidence that I fainted when I did."  
"Why? What do you think?"  
"I think Rick tried to contact me. He told me he was there for me in that dream. It was like he was saying: 'Don't give up, Lori. I'm still here.'" She smiled. "I think he's going to wake up. I don't know when; it could be days, months, years… but he'll wake up. And I'll be there for him when he does."

Rick said nothing. He pondered her statement for a while. It was oddly inspirational, how this sudden epiphany had convinced her to hold out hope for her husband. She was going to wait for him. If she was willing to wait so long, then surely he would be able to wake up. If there was a God, it would have to help her. And him. And Carl. And Shane too; an innocent (debateable) punished by being imprisoned in a coma.

It had just occurred to Rick that Lori's epiphany might have been Shane. Maybe he had somehow done that to her, and convinced her to hold on. If so, it wasn't such a bad thing. She had previously been considering turning off the life support, and now she was adamant that she wouldn't. That – to Rick – was something amazing.

"_An unidentified man was shot dead this morning after mortally wounding a woman in the middle of a street in Macon. The victim had bite marks all down her neck and sustained heavy blood loss. She is currently in surgery with her chances of survival very low. We will now speak to Dr Edward Jenner from the Centre for Disease Control and Protection about the possibility of a new contagious disease that the assailant is being tested for in autopsy."_

Rick turned off the radio as he parked up outside the Grimes residence.  
"Thanks for taking care of me, Shane."  
"Happy to help. Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"  
"Yes, thank you. I just have to make sure I don't get too worked up in the future."

She patted his hand, lingering for just a moment too long.  
"Good night, Shane."  
"Good night, Lori."

She got out of the car and walked up to the front door, where Carl was waiting anxiously. No one had bothered to call home to see if he was alright. She hugged him and led him back inside.

Rick had never loved her more than that moment.


End file.
